This afternoon all the three CSB classes have been combined to watch a movie titled 'Enron-The Smartest Guys in the Room'. Actually it is a documentary on the Enron scandal.
The Enron scandal was a financial scandal involving Enron Corporation and its accounting firm Arthur Andersen, that was revealed in late 2001. After a series of revelations involving irregular accounting procedures conducted throughout the 1990s, Enron was on the verge of bankruptcy by November 2001. A white knight rescue attempt by a similar, smaller energy company, Dynergy, was not viable. Enron filed for bankruptcy on December 2, 2001.
As the scandal was revealed, Enron shares dropped from over US$90 to less than 50c. Enron's plunge occurred after revelations that much of its profits and revenues were the results of deals with special purpose entities(limited partnerships which it controlled). The result was that many of Enron's debts and the losses that it suffered were not reported in its financial statements.
Some of the main characters involved in the scandal include Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling and Andrew Fastow. This documentary showed interviews with formers Enron employees and other people connected to the scandal. The recordings are very real and detailed. As the documentary was an uncensored one, there was a scene showing nude strippers in a bar which caused quite a stir in the class. Some of the people interviewed used vulgar language and got the class laughing out loud. The funniest part was when Jeff Skilling, former CEO of Enron, verbally attacked Wall Street Analyst Richard Grubman with the term 'asshole'.
